(Trinidad Guardian) A meeting held by the Tobago Oil Spill Relief Committee to address compensation for fisherfolk affected by the February 7 oil spill ended in frustration and anger on Monday evening.
Fishermen, who said they had been enduring economic losses since the incident, expected to hear about prompt compensation. Instead, they were met with stringent requirements and an approaching deadline. Sumwatty Ramkissoon, a fisherwoman said she was upset about the process.
“Allyuh better give me my money before I dead. Pay me before I dead. Don’t wait until five, six, ten years going down the line and the fishermen still struggling here. We can’t get nothing.”
This wasn’t a request, but one of the many demands made by the fisherfolk at the Food Hub in Shaw Park.
The committee proposed that all claims be submitted by July 22, sparking immediate discontent among the audience.
Some fisherfolk cursed while others shifted in discomfort after hearing this.
A fisherman argued that the process was burdened with unrealistic demands and excessive red tape, making it nearly impossible to access the promised compensation.
But in defence, T&T representative of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund Andrew Taylor assured everyone affected would be compensated.
He said, “Everything in your narrative as part of your claim explaining how much you pay per month will add to your claim as well.
“If you say you were making this and you lose this much, then that claim will become a valid claim and you will be able to receive compensation regardless of an exact receipt.
“If you sold ten king fish a day and you have been doing that for years … then you put in a claim for the loss of the ten. But it’s when someone comes and says they are making 100 in a day and they didn’t have that available in the water then those kinds of claims get rejected. Legitimate losses are going to get through even regardless of not having an exact receipt,” Taylor said.
The committee initially stated that proof of loss could be as simple as photos, explanations, or any form of documentation. However, the fisherfolk found that in practice, the requirements were far more complex. Some left the consultation midway, fed up with what they called, bureaucracy and delays.
Fisherman Erwin Nicholas lamented the treatment of fishermen on the island, especially in the oil spill disaster.
“When something like this happens it shows me plain and straight that the person at the head table, it’s like they don’t want the fisherman to get nothing.”
Despite the committee’s reassurance that fishermen’s claims would be honoured, the mood among the fisherfolk was bleak.
The Gulfstream barge overturned off the Coast of Cove spewing bunker fuel and devastating parts of the island’s ecosystem.
